Coffee With A Cop takes Miami

Every month, local Miami-Dade police department hosts a Coffee with a Cop event to bring in the community and meet face to face with local law enforcers. The purpose of this event is to allow the people to express their concerns of their community, and say what they feel officers are doing right or wrong. Many attendees are able to understand the motivation behind the actions some officers may commit, and what the plans for the future are for the town.
Tom Mazzeo, a regular customer of the coffee shop walked into the event and expressed his happiness and how he feels this event is important to your residential area. “I am a regular here at this coffee shop, and when I saw the sign outside, I decided to come in early, and I am glad I did. I got to meet with the chief of police and really see and understand what they are doing to improve the community.” With many movements such as “Black Lives Matter,” it give cops much negative backlash, and this allows the community to sit down with an officer and see both sides of the story.
Miami-Dade Police Department Director Juan Perez grabbed everyone’s attention by giving a speech discussing the dangers of his profession and said, “Everyday, we (officers) go out and risks our lives for the community, I want to thank everyone who came out here today for showing your interest in the betterment of this community. I want you all to pray for us, because right now, we may be sitting down drinking coffee and eating donuts, but in less than thirty minute, we can be running towards gun fire.” This speech moved many customers who lined up to embrace him and express their support for the officers.
The officers also described their sentiment and stressed how important they feel the attendence of the community is. Carmen Castro, Police Major, during her interview said, “It makes me so happy to see everyone here, they come out and I get to talk to everyone and in turn become a better officer. If I don’t get criticism, or hear judgement, I can’t get better.” This is a unique event to become more aware of those who risks their lives for us, and let them know what it is we feel they can do better as a whole. A community functions with an act being done, and those who commit it receive feedback to better as a group.